When we feel dizzy, we lose our sense of orientation in space and experience motions in our environment that do not really exist. Result: balance problems to the point of falling, accompanied by a range of different symptoms.
Various forms of vertigo emerge through different processes in our organism. Therefore, it is important to know how our balance system works together with other human body systems, allowing us to get our bearings and move in a room.
When it comes to vertigo, the balance system is the focus of attention
To maintain our orientation in a room and be able to move around safely we need additonal sensory systems other than our balance system alone.
Not always can a single and clear-cut cause of vertigo be identified. Often, several factors interact or exactly what causes vertigo cannot be narrowed down unequivocally. These types of vertigo are grouped under the rubric of multifactorial vertigo.
Benign positional vertigo is also known by the term benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and manifests itself typically by suddenly occurring rotational vertigo.
Occasionally you cannot identify physical causes for vertigo symptoms even though complaints are severe. Here we talk about somatoform vertigo (gr. soma = body) or psychogenic vertigo.
Morbus Menière, also called Menière’s disease, presents with a repeatedly occurring, nauseating rotational vertigo accompanied with impaired hearing in one ear and tinnitus (low-frequency "noise" in the ear).
A sudden attack of intense rotational vertigo with a tendency to fall, accompanied with severe nausea and eye tremor suggest a so-called Neuropathia vestibulares (vestibular neuritis): an acute failure of the balance organ on one side.
With vestibular migraine (vertigo migraine), the vertigo attack is accompanied by additional symptoms that are typical of migraine.
A number of disorders of the central-nervous system (CNS) especially in the brain can be responsible for non-directional vertigo. In this case, we talk about central (vestibular) vertigo cerebral vertigo (with brain diseases) res. neuronal vertigo (with disease of the nerve cells).
Vertigo can have many forms – this is due to the fact that many systems of our body make sure that we can move safely in space. More important types of vertigo are explained to you here.
